Belfast-based director aims to 'shine a light' on Black communities

A Belfast-based director and photographer has told UTV he wants to uncover more stories from Black and ethnically diverse communities to benefit Northern Ireland.

Tolu Ogunware is 27-years-old and has lived in Northern Ireland for most of his life.

He has recently been named amongst a crop of talent in Broadcast magazine's 'Hotshots' list in recognition of his work.

Gaining a deeper understanding of the lives of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds here is critical to the work he produces.

He said: "To me that's pretty important, to myself, and I think when creating work... when I'm creating art, I always want it to resonate with what interests me."

Tolu spent several years in primary school in his parents native Nigeria before they moved to the UK.

After growing up in Northern Ireland, he now wants to use his personal experiences as a catalyst to generate more stories and ideas.

"Northern Ireland isn't as diverse [as other parts of the UK]," he said.

"Statistics are growing definitely and they're still growing at a great rate and I think with diversity, a lot of benefits will come from that.

"So at the moment, I'm telling those types of stories because it brings more light towards these subject matters and I think it brings more, not just opportunities, but progress."

Tolu spoke to UTV at his workspace in west Belfast as part of Black History Month.

The month marks a UK-wide celebration of Black culture in the arts, sciences and beyond.

He said it's an important time.

"If I don't have the time to do specific research into things, I can just fall upon this information in this month," he said.

"You know I can discover new artists that I've never heard of - pioneers that I've never heard of that have been lost to history, in a sense."

A new documentary as well as aiming to open his own production company are both in the pipeline for this director who's dreaming big and displaying his talents for the world to see.

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